As electronic systems develop in complexity and incorporate more and more individual processors and associated software code, upgrading a particular electronic component or processor may impact the performance of other electronic components and processors in the system unless the software relating to the other components and processors is updated as well to accommodate the new component or processor. To improve and enable effective system performance, all or selected portions of software need to be updated from time to time. Such software can be updated either by replacing the entire current software code in memory with updated software or by upgrading individual software portions. In complex systems, the amount of software to be replaced in a full updating of all affected software modules is voluminous. Replacing the entire software code is time-consuming or costly if implemented as firmware or ROM. It is accordingly desirable to develop convenient methods and systems for updating software installed in an electronic component memory without needing to replace the entire software.